Double The Solar = Net Zero House

We more than doubled the size of our solar power system in December and the new system got connected to the grid a few weeks ago. The new system consists of 29 325 Watt (9425 W total) Solarworld Bisun panels with SolarEdge optimizers connected to a 10kW SolarEdge inverter.

This increases the total size of our solar power system from 6930 W to 16355 W. My estimate of power production is approximately a little more than double even though the new system is a lot bigger than the old one. To fit the system we covered non-optimal locations on the roof and also mounted 8 of the panels as an awning on our deck. We specifically picked the Bisun panels because they let some light through.

Along with installing this system we also added monitoring to our old system. So now I can easily check the status of the production online making it a lot easier to update the status on my solar production tracker.

The old system produced approximately 55% of our power consumption and now I expect both the systems together to produce over 100% of our energy usage. We also do most of our driving in an electric car – our Nissan Leaf and my hope is that by the end of the decade we go all electric and the goal is to still be net zero.

Considering the bifacial panels, the structure on the deck, optimizers and panel placement, this system was a lot more expensive with a much longer payback period. The new system was also installed by Genesis Home and Energy, thanks to Randy at Genesis being the only one who could find affordable bifacial solar panels. This system cost about $3/W before federal rebate (not counting the deck structure and monitoring for the existing system to make comparison with the old system fair). This equates to about $2.10/W after federal rebate. However the payoff period (not counting tax benefits of the Dominion Solar Purchase program) is somewhere between 15 and 20 years compared to the old system which I now estimate to be less than 10 years. Of course, I’ll keep track and keep the production tracker updated.

The structure on the deck was built by a contractor from our neighborhood – Armando Vasquez.